Sociological Analysis of a Haitian Family

Human behavior is based, in part, on how societies function, and this has been the case since the origins of humanity. The field of sociology is the systematic study of groups of people in order to better understand human behavior, and it can be used to classify people according to their social group and category. Sociologists have concluded that people tend to behave differently based on the social community to which they belong. Among the many theories of human behavior that sociologists have developed are the functionalist, the feminist, and the exchange theories. The application of sociological perspectives and theories makes it possible to meet a person and readily identify the social groups to which they belong and to learn about their societal roles and opinions. The family is one of the most important influences on behavior and socialization and provides insights into the lives and values of individuals, groups, and cultures.

Glenn Lamour is one of my college classmates and a friend of mine, and he agreed to participate in an oral history interview about his life and his family. I was able to determine the social group to which Glenn belongs, based on his look, his fashion, his way of talking, and many other cues. Glenn was born in 1991 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He is 23 years old and could be described as a regular Haitian kid. From his infancy in Haiti, he was raised by his grandmother while his parents were living in the United States. In Haiti, he was seen as an upper-class child. He went to private schools there, attending the New American School from the age of six to eight, and he lived comfortably because his parents were working-class Americans who were supporting him at the time. He was brought back to the United State at the age of eight, where he attended American schools in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

The conflict theory of sociology applies to Glenn’s life because he has the desire to go to college even though this was not a part of his family’s tradition. Even though Glenn is not the oldest of the children in his family, he is the first to attend college. People in Glenn’s generation are more likely to seek a college education than his parents’ generation, and attending college is one of the various ways for Glenn to find a place in society. When I interviewed him, Glenn mentioned, “I am a role model to my family members because I am the first one to earn a college degree” (Lamour). The fact that Glenn has acquired more formal education than the rest of his family makes him especially valuable to them and to their future prospects.

From a sociological perspective, Glenn’s grandmother and grandfather can be classified by the functionalist theory. Functionalists view social stratification as an inevitable part of human behavior and see social roles based on gender as being largely predetermined: The man goes to work and brings home the bread; the mother stays home, takes care of the children, and does all the household work such as cooking, laundry, and cleaning. When Glenn was growing up, his grandfather had a job outside the home and made money to support the family while Glenn’s grandmother stayed home and took care of Glenn and the household. The family Glenn grew up in during the first eight years of his life fits perfectly with the functionalist theory in the course of family development.

From a functionalist perspective, Glenn’s life is much like that of other people from traditional Haitian families. He grew up as a regular middle-class child with very little to worry about. “My parents were always working, so I had a lot of time alone,” he explained (Lamour). His family had very traditional gender roles, in that the grandfather worked and the grandmother stayed home. Glenn is distant from his older brothers and sister because of the difference in their ages, and because they live in another part of the country. He said that he is “…closer to my younger sister because she is part of my immediate family and she looks up to me for guidance and support” (Lamour). Glenn explained that his is “a very simple Haitian family where all we do is eat Haitian food, and whenever we see each other we like to tell jokes” (Lamour). They are also very religious, which is quite common. Glenn explained, “…religion is a big part of my family. We strongly believe in God and we pray every single day.” (Lamour). Glenn remembers his grandmother having church services in her house in the very early morning hours. Because of his family’s dedication to the church, Glenn grew up to be a Christian.

Glenn’s mother and father also live a lifestyle that demonstrates the functionalist theory, because they have both adopted the typical formula of family organization, in addition to traditional gender roles. Their lives are different from those of Glenn’s grandparents, though, because they are in the United States instead of Haiti, and because both of them have to work outside the home to provide for the family. This type of social arrangement arguably describes the majority of American families, and it fits into the functionalist framework, which holds that a society functions best when each person has a place and is suited to their social role. For example, according to Richard Schaefer’s book, Sociology, an Introduction, Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore contend that “society must distribute its members among a variety of social positions” (Schaefer 186). Traditionally, the society has classified staying home and raising children, cooking, and doing laundry as roles usually performed by a woman. I tend to agree with Davis and Moore. It is necessary for certain social positions to be filled by people with the appropriate talents. It is normal for Glenn’s grandmother to stay home and do all the housework because she is just filling her position as a woman in her society. But it is also normal for Glenn’s mother to have a job outside the home because this is typical of the society in which she lives.

In the functionalist perspective, the fact that Glenn is attending college can be seen as self improvement in the pursuit of greater social status—the prestige of being a college graduate, along with the ability to secure a high-paying job. Moore and Davis argue that “rewards, including money and prestige, are based on the importance of a position and the relative scarcity of qualified personnel” (Schaefer 186). That fits with my contention that Glenn is going to college in order to better qualify himself for a more prestigious role, especially considering that he is the first member of his family to pursue a college degree. I would argue that Glenn is attending college because he is not satisfied with his family’s standard of living. In my interview with him, Glenn said that his mother and father are both certified nursing assistants, and his father used to work the late-night shift which can be extremely arduous in a culture with substandard health. Glenn explained that this motivates him to go to college so that he can obtain a better job. According to Schaefer, Moore and Davis maintain that “stratification is universal and that social inequality is necessary so that people will be motivated to fill functionally important positions” (Schaefer 186). Glenn is motivated by the everyday struggle of his family members to attain his college degree.

On the other hand, the sociological dynamic of Glenn’s family can also be described by the exchange theory. When Glenn was only a child and was living with his grandparents, the only person who was working outside the home was his grandfather. His grandmother was a merchant, but she stayed home to do the housework and take care of the children. Based on the exchange theory perspective, I would argue that the grandmother could have been out working as well but decided to exchange her time for the good of the family. The grandfather’s salary served as compensation for the grandmother’s sacrifice. Glenn’s parents were still providing for him while he was in Haiti, and according to him, this behavior is very common among Haitian families. Basically, there is an exchange of energies among family members for the common benefit. In the case of Glenn’s family, the parents were in the United States working while the child was left with the grandparents. In effect, the grandparents provided childcare and were compensated in exchange for the financial assistance the parents provided. From an exchange perspective, the grandmother traded the salary she could be earning for the support she received from the child’s parents. Glenn explained that there is no daycare in Haiti. Instead, the neighbors watch each other’s children, or one parent stays home to take care of the children (Lamour). In this case, I contend that the grandmother exchanged her earning potential for the welfare of her grandchildren.

Glenn’s parents can also be classified as an exchange family because of the way they arranged their work schedules. In effect, they were exchanging their time. For example, the fact that the father worked a shift that was very late at night made it possible for him to take care of the children while the mother was at work in the daytime. The mother also chose to sleep without the father present in the house as an exchange for the children’s well-being, so that the father could be at home during the day to take care of them. Glenn praised his mother during our interview, and added, “my mother is the most caring person I have ever known” (Lamour). Considering that Glenn’s mother cares so much about the safety of her children, I conclude that that was the reason she sent him to live with his grandparents in Haiti while she worked in the United States. In doing this, she exchanged the beauty of being with her child for the child’s well-being.

The functionalist and exchange theories of sociology can both provide a way to understand Glenn’s Haitian family, even including their lives and pursuits in the United States. The family, as a social unit, has had a strong impact on Glenn’s life and the choices he has made. His family’s cultural orientation has led them to structure their lives around traditional gender-based roles in the home and workplace, but they have also made many sacrifices for the common good of the family unit and its individual members. Great care was taken, for instance, to make sure the children had the best chance to prosper, and there was an intergenerational exchange of efforts and resources in this regard. Glenn’s life story shows how sociological theories can be applied to provide meaningful and useful insights into family systems as a basic unit of societies and how they function.

Works Cited

Lamour, Glenn. Personal interview. 1 Feb. 2014.

Schaefer, Richard T. Sociology: A Brief Introduction. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.